100 is a nice round number. It is also a very large number. It is a number that represents longevity. For today it represents all of that and it represents the number of football games that New York Sharks linebacker Darleen "Blue" Hall has played in. 100 is also a number that represents quality, you don't get to play in 100 games unless you are good.
Darleen first started playing with the New York Sharks in 2000. She quickly earned her nickname because she had dyed her hair blue. In 2002 she helped the Sharks win the national championship. She stayed with the team through 2004 before she moved out west. She played for the Portland Shockwave for a few years before moving again and playing with the Kentucky Karma, Louisville Nightmare, and then with the Chicago Force in 2009 and 2010.
In 2011, Darleen moved back to New York city and re-joined the New York Sharks. Welcome back, Darleen. Here's to your 100th game and for many more in the future.
"I know there are others out there that may have reached a hundred, Jen Blum and Val Halesworth I am sure, but there are not many out there... I guess this is what makes this feel like a part of women's football history. I grew up thinking I would never even get to play 1, let alone 100. Even that first season, here we are so many years later out there still doing this and so many other female athletes can say that they have played in 1 game, or two, or dozens, or even 100..."
"When you are on the field all that matters is what is across from you at the line of scrimmage. For 60 minutes the world is shut out and there is only you, your teammates, and the passion to win and push yourself mentally and physically in a way you never thought possible.
I will never forget that first game when all I played was kickoff, but just being on the field made me feel like a football player."
"Or game 3 in Oklahoma City, on a muddy field, where I got to go in with two minutes left and I made an interception when I still was not sure what a free safety was..."
"The other moments that seem like dots in a time line would be winning a ring with the Sharks in 2002, an 80 yard interception return for a touchdown in 2003, receiving the Sharon Pascale Award my last season with the Sharks in 2004 when it was Sharon who taught me so much of the game and believed in my ability to play, playing at halftime during a New York Giants game in the Meadowlands, what it felt like the first time I played in a jersey other than the Sharks in 2005 and it took a while for that feeling to go away, being handed a Defensive MVP Award in 2006 and 2008 and a Team MVP award in 2008, the game I played a week after my mother died in 2007 where for three hours I was able to take it out on someone without getting arrested-scoring a defensive touchdown and being able to hold it up for her in the end zone, playing with the Portland Shockwave in a scrimmage against the Seattle Majestics on Qwest Field, 2008 playing in the All-Star game in Texas with future Chicago teammates, not knowing I would be along side them again in 2009, also in 2009 when after 10 seasons my dad finally got to see me play against the Detroit Demolition because he was the one throwing me pass after pass in the backyard when I was a kid- it is still the only game he has ever seen (thanks Chicago Force), between 2009-2010 where I was unable to really settle into 1 team, and 13 MVP gameballs later here we are in 2011 when all I can say is that walking out on that field in Philly on April 2nd with a Sharks jersey on wearing #27 (thanks Joy) felt like coming home, ending up where it all began, it was where I belonged and it made my 100th that much sweeter last week."
"I know most of these moments will only mean something to me in the end and I will look back on them as one of the most important things I accomplished in my life... I love that there are so many of us playing this game, and playing it well with a passion and desire that I feel like so many men forgot somewhere under all the glitz because the only glitz we will ever have is simply being able to play the game. The real game, the one we grew up watching and dreaming of being able to play- not two hand touch, not flag, not powder puff, not somewhat-contact in underwear and a bra- hard nosed, gritty, sometimes ugly full-contact football."-Darleen Hall
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